Shares of Indiabulls Group companies tumbled after the Delhi High Court admitted petitions to probe Indiabulls Housing.
Indiabulls Ventures (down 19.98%), Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 19.23%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 9.91%) and Indiabulls Integrated Services (down 4.98%) slumped.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 303.69 points or 0.78% to 38,518.88.
Indiabulls Housing Finance informed after market hours on Friday, 27 September 2019, that the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Citizens Whistle Blower Forum came up for hearing before the Delhi High Court on Friday, when the Court was informed that the averments made in the petition are a pack of lies motivated by vested interest and has been filed without any research even on publicly available records of the company.
Senior Counsel Mukul Rohtagi and Dr. Abhishek Singhvi arguing for the company stated that the false and fabricated allegations made against the company in respect of loans granted to four business groups fall flat merely on the fact that 2 of these loans to business groups are fully closed with no outstanding dues and loans to 2 other business groups are secured loans granted in the normal course of business and are being serviced regularly as per repayments schedule.
Further, these 2 business groups have no loans or investments of any kind whatsoever in any promoter companies. The High Court has listed the matter for 13 December 2019 to allow respondent company to place on record relevant documents in support of its rebuttal to the allegations contained in the PIL which has been filed at behest of Prashant Bhushan (who has been reprimanded in the past by the Supreme Court of India for filing frivolous PILs).
The company has filed an application before the Delhi High Court for Perjury and misrepresentation under oath against Prashant Bhushan for willfully filing a PIL full of false and incorrect information and thereby causing wilful reputational loss to the company. The Perjury petition against Prashant Bhushan will come up for hearing next week. Further the company has also filed criminal defamation case against Prashant Bhushan under Sections 499, 500 and 501 under Indian Penal Code for conniving with blackmailers and defaming the company.
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Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court restrained BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and social media giants from disseminating any false, offending or defamatory allegations against Indiabulls Housing Finance.
In late July 2019, BJP Leader Subramanian Swamy had sent a letter to PM Modi, accusing the Indiabulls group of Rs 1 lakh crore fraud. Swamy had urged PM Modi to institute a Special Investigation Team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) and Income Tax (IT) officials to probe into the money laundering of the Indiabulls group by siphoning the funds of the National Housing Bank.
The Delhi High Court in a civil suit filed by Indiabulls Housing Finance directed Twitter, Facebook, Whats App etc. to remove/take down and/or expunge the offending false messages from their portals within two weeks from 13 September 2019.
Meanwhile, credit rating agency CARE revised the long-term rating of Indiabulls Housing Finance from 'CARE AAA' to 'CARE AA+'. Perpetual debt programme was revised from 'CARE AA+' to 'CARE AA'. Short-term rating was reaffirmed at 'CARE A1+'. The ratings were revised due to progress in process of merger with Lakshmi Vilas Bank and the potential transition challenges thereof; challenging funding environment for NBFCs and HFCs; and moderation in asset quality.
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